Guiness World Speed Record

It's Official. X-43A Raises the Bar to Mach 9.6 Guinness World Records recognized NASA's X-43A scramjet with a new world speed record for a jet-powered aircraft - Mach 9.6, or nearly 7,000 mph. The X-43A set the new mark and broke its own world record on its third and final flight on Nov. 16, 2004. In March 2004, the X-43A set the previous record of Mach 6.8 (nearly 5,000 mph). The fastest air-breathing, manned vehicle, the U.S. Air Force SR-71, achieved slightly more than Mach 3.2. The X-43A more than doubled, then tripled, the top speed of the jet-powered SR-71.


Mach 10 Meteor: X-43A Scramjet Flight is Risky Business
11.12.04
It looked so easy last March when NASA's X-43A team succeeded in sending the second X-43A scramjet to a world record speed of Mach 6.83, but looks are deceiving. Blazing through the sky at Mach 10 is next on the project's agenda as the third X-43A flight date fast approaches. This attempt is high risk, so no detail is too small to leave to chance.